This application is based on Patent Application No. 2001-195417 filed Jun. 27, 2000 in Japan, the content of which is incorporated hereinto by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device-socket useable for testing a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor devices mounted on an electronic equipment or others are subjected to various tests at a stage prior to being actually mounted so that latent defects therein are removed. The test is performed nondestructively through application of voltage stress, high-temperature operation, and high-temperature storage corresponding to thermal and mechanical environment tests or the like. Among these tests, there is a burn-in test effective for removing initial-inoperable integrated circuits, in which an operation test is performed under a high temperature condition for a predetermined time.
A semiconductor device-socket subjected to such a test as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3059946 and as illustrated in FIG. 11, for example, is disposed on a printed circuit board 2 that includes an input/output portion, to which portion a predetermined test voltage is supplied and which portion outputs an abnormality-detection signal representing a short-circuit or others is returned from the semiconductor device as an object to be tested and the abnormality detection signal is transmitted.
The semiconductor device-socket comprises a socket body 4 for accommodatinging the contact deviation member 8 relatively movably with respect to a pair of the contact portion of the contact terminal 16ai; a positioning member 10 including an accommodation portion 10a in which a BGA-type (Ball Grid Array) semiconductor device is loaded as the semiconductor device for example; a contact deviation member 8 for supporting the positioning member 10 arranged in a socket body 4 movably as described later in a reciprocating fashion in a predetermined direction and bringing one of movable contact portion 16M of a contact terminal 16ai described later into close proximity to the other of contact portion 16F or keeping the one away from the other; and a frame member 12 for transmitting operation force acting on itself to the contact deviation member 8 through a driving mechanism of the contact deviation member 8 (not shown).
At a predetermined position on the printed circuit board 2 are formed a group of electrodes connected electrically to the input/output portion through a conductor layer. To the electrode group is connected a terminal 16B on a proximal end side of a plurality of the contact terminals 16ai (i=1 to n, n is a positive integer.) provided on the socket body 4 disposed on the printed circuit board 2.
The socket body 4 has thereinside an accommodation portion 4a from which the movable contacts 16M and 16F of a plurality of the contact terminals 16ai are protruded.
Each contact terminal 16ai, which is provided corresponding to each electrode portion 6a of a mounted semiconductor device 6, comprises a terminal 16B on the side of the proximal end and a pair of movable contact portions 16F and 16M that are coupled with the just-mentioned terminal 16B for selectively supporting each electrode portion 6a of the semiconductor device 6. The pair of the movable contact portions 16F and 16M approach each other in response to the movement of the contact deviation member 8 to pinch each electrode portion 6a of the semiconductor device 6 or are separated from each other to release each electrode portion 6a of the semiconductor device 6 as shown FIG. 13 and FIG. 14.
The contact deviation member 8 is disposed movably in the movement direction of the movable contact portions 16M and 16F of each contact terminal 16ai in the accommodation portion 4a of the socket body 4. The contact deviation member 8 has an opening through which the movable contacts 16M and 16F of each contact terminal 16ai are protruded. Each opening is divided with a partition wall (not shown).
A partition wall 8p is provided as a movable contact press portion, in each opening portion from which the movable contacts 16M and 16F of each contact terminal 16ai in the contact deviation member 8 are protruded, which portion 8p is formed so as to divide a space between the movable contact 16M and the movable contact 16F. Further, between the one end of the contact deviation member 8 and the inner periphery of the accommodation portion 4a of the socket body 4 is provided an urging member (not shown) for urging the contact deviation member 8 to return the contact deviation member 8 to an initial position illustrated in FIG. 11.
As shown in FIG. 13, a recessed portion 8a is provided in an upper end of the contact deviation member 8 on which a bottom of the positioning member 10 of the contact deviation member 8 is placed, with which a protrusion 10p of the positioning member 10 is engaged when the contact deviation member 8 is moved in one direction. As shown therefore in FIGS. 12 and 13, the contact deviation member 8 is adapted to be relatively slidable in a predetermined region with respect to the bottom of the contact deviation member and the positioning member 10, and is moved together with the positioning member 10.
The contact deviation member 8 is coupled to a driving mechanism composed of a pin and a lever as disclosed in the foregoing Japanese Patent No. 3059946. One end of the lever of the driving mechanism makes contact with an end of the frame member 12.
Accordingly, when the contact deviation member 8 is moved against the urging force of the coiled spring 14 in the direction indicated by an arrow illustrated in FIG. 13 in response to the lowering operation of the frame member 12 in the direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 11, the partition wall 8P is moved so as to separate the movable contact portion 16M of each contact terminal 16ai from the movable contact 16F. In contrast, as shown in FIG. 14, the contact deviation member 8 is moved with the aid of the urging force of the biasing means and the restoring force of the movable contact 16M oppositely to the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 13 in response to rising operation of the frame member 12.
As shown in FIG. 11, the positioning member 10 includes the accommodation portion 10a at the center thereof, in which the semiconductor device 10 is mounted. An inner peripheral surface of the accommodation portion 10a comprises flat surfaces with which end surfaces of the square semiconductor device 6 make contact, and a slope that combines the upper end surface and the flat surface, and further a bottom surface intersecting the flat surface. The size of the inner peripheral surface of the accommodation portion 10a is set larger than the size of an external appearance of the mounted semiconductor device 6 mounted within a predetermined tolerance.
In the bottom of the accommodation portion 10a is formed an opening lob communicated with the opening in the contact deviation member 8. The protrusion 10p that engages a peripheral edge of the recessed portion 8a of the contact deviation member 8 is formed at a portion of the bottom of the accommodation portion 10a opposing to the contact deviation member 8. Further, protrusions 10ca and 10cb are formed on both ends of the bottom of the positioning member 10 on the opposite side of the socket body 4, the protrusions being guided and restricted by grooves 4ga and 4gb in the socket body 4.
The frame member 12 has thereinside an opening to surround an outer periphery of the positioning member 10. The frame member 12 is supported on the socket body 4 movably up and down with respect to the socket body 4.
When in such a structure, referring to FIG. 11, the semiconductor device 6 is in the state just before it is held with the hand HA of the conveyance robot (not shown) and is accommodated in the accommodation portion 10a of the positioning member 10, the semiconductor device 6 is held with the hand HA of the conveyance robot such that an axis center of the hand HA of the conveyance robot and the center of the semiconductor device 6 are coincident with each other. In that case, the protrusion 10p of the positioning member 10 and the peripheral edge of the recessed portion 8a of the contact deviation member 8 are made a disengagement state each other. Further, the hand HA of the conveyance robot is disposed such that the position of the axis center of the hand HA is displaced by a predetermined distance xcex94H to the left in FIG. 11 with respect to the center position of the accommodation portion 10a of the positioning member 10.
When the held semiconductor device 6 is mounted in the accommodation portion 10a of the positioning member 10, the frame member 22 is first moved downward up to a lowest end position illustrated in FIG. 13 with the press portion PU of the conveyance robot and the semiconductor device 6 is moved downward.
Accordingly, referring to FIG. 13, the contact deviation member 8 is moved against the urging force of the urging means. Further, the protrusion 10p of the positioning member 10 and the peripheral edge of the recessed portion 8a in the contact deviation member 8 are brought into an engagement state, whereby the positioning member 10 is moved until the protrusion 10ca and 10cb of the positioning member collide with closed ends of the grooves 4ga and 4gb, respectively.
Next, referring then to FIG. 13, in the state of the partition wall 8P where it is moved and held such that the movable contact 16M of the each contact terminal is separated from the movable contact 16F, the semiconductor device 6 is mounted in the accommodation portion 10a of the positioning member 10, whereby the electrode 6a of the semiconductor device 6 is positioned between the movable contact 16M or and movable contact 16F of each contact terminal 16ai. 
Since in that case the accommodation portion 10a of the positioning member 10 is moved by a predetermined distance, the hand HA of the conveyance robot is moveed downward as indicated by a chain double-dashed line in FIG. 13 in response to the movement of the positioning member 10 in the state where the position CL of the axis center of the hand HA and the center position of the accommodation portion 10a of the positioning member 10 are coincident with each other.
When the frame member 12 is moved upward as illustrated in FIG. 14 in the state where each electrode 6a of the semiconductor device 6 is disposed between the movable contacts 16M and 16F of each contact terminal 16ai, the contact deviation member 8 is moved up to the initial position with the aid of the urging force of the urging means and the restoring force of the movable contact 16M, whereby the partition wall 8P is separated from the movable contact 16M and comes in contact with the movable contact 16F. It is here noticed that FIG. 14 illustrates the situation of the contact deviation member 8 where it starts to move in the direction indicated by an arrow.
Referring to FIG. 14, each electrode 6a of the semiconductor device 6 is therefore held between the movable contact 16M of each contact terminal 16ai and the movable contact 16F of the same to bring the electrodes 6a of the semiconductor device 6 into an electrical connection with each contact terminal 16ai. 
There is however a situation where any end of the semiconductor device 6 interferes with the inner periphery of the accommodation portion 10a of the positioning member 10 owing to a positional displacement of the positioning member 10 based upon manufacturing error of respective constituent parts associated with the positioning member 10 during the movements of the hand HA of the conveyance robot, the frame member 12, and the positioning member 10, as illustrated in FIG. 12.
Such a problem can be eliminated provided that the frame member 12 is lowered up to a lowest end position and the positioning member 10 is moved until the protrusions 10ca and 10cb collide open ends of the grooves 4ga and 4gb, and then the hand HA of the conveyance robot that holds the semiconductor device 6 is moved with a delay, as illustrated in FIG. 13, for example. But this causes another problem of reducing of inspection efficiency and hence the just-mentioned method is inadvisable.
It is furthermore difficult in mass production in view of production efficiency to replace a new respective constituent parts associated with the positioning member 10 for correcting the positional displacement of the positioning member 10. There is a predetermined limit to reduce the amount of the positional displacement of the positioning member 10 because there is the possibility of the positional displacement being varied within a range of variations of manufacturing error of each parts among lots.
In view of the drawbacks with the prior art it is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device-socket used for a test for a semiconductor device wherein during a series of mounting operations or a semiconductor device there is no possibility of undesirable interference between a positioning member and the semiconductor device, and further no possibility of reducing of inspection efficiency.
To achieve the above object, a semiconductor device-socket according to the present invention comprises: a supporting member for supporting a proximal end of a contact terminal including a movable contact selectively making contact with terminals of the semiconductor device to be electrically connected therewith; a contact terminal deviation member disposed movably in the supporting member and including a press portion for bringing the movable contact of the contact terminal into or out of close proximity to the terminal of the semiconductor device; a first positioning member supported on said supporting member with the movement in the direction of the movement of the contact terminal deviation member restricted, and the first positioning member including a accommodation portion for positioning the terminal of the mounted semiconductor device relatively with respect to the movable contact of the contact terminal; and a second positioning member opposing to the first positioning member and supported on the supporting member movably in the direction of the movement of the contact terminal deviation member, the second positioning member including a accommodation portion for positioning the terminal of the mounted semiconductor device relatively with respect to the movable contact of the contact terminal cooperatively with the first positioning member.
The foregoing second positioning member may be adapted such that it includes an engagement portion for selectively engaging the contact terminal deviation member when the contact terminal deviation member is moved, and it is moved so as to bring into or out of close proximity to the first positioning member.
A semiconductor device-socket according to the present invention comprises: a supporting member for supporting a proximal end of a contact terminal including a movable contact selectively making contact with a terminal of the semiconductor device to be electrically connected therewith; a contact terminal deviation member disposed relatively movably in the supporting member, the contact deviation member including a press portion for bringing the movable contact of the contact terminal into or out of close proximity to the terminal of the semiconductor device; a positioning member supported on a supporting member with the movement in the direction of the movement of the contact terminal deviation member restricted, the positioning member including an accommodation portion for relatively positioning the terminal of the semiconductor device relatively movably with respect to the movable contact for accommodation of the semiconductor device; and a position restriction member for restricting the movement of the positioning member in the direction of the movement of the contact terminal deviation member when the semiconductor device is mounted on the accommodation portion of the positioning member.
The position restriction member may be a resilient member for urging the positioning member in one direction along the movement direction of the contact terminal deviation member.
A semiconductor device-socket according to the present invention comprising: a supporting member for supporting a proximal end of a contact terminal including a movable contact selectively making contact and being electrically connected with a terminal of a semiconductor device; a contact terminal deviation member disposed relatively movably in the supporting member, the contact terminal deviation member including a press portion for bringing the movable contact of the contact terminal into or out of close proximity to the terminal of the semiconductor device; and a positioning member supported on the supporting member with the movement in the direction of the movement of the contact terminal deviation member being restricted, the positioning member including an accommodation portion for relatively positioning and accommodating the terminal of the semiconductor device placed on the bottom with respect to the movable contact.
In accordance with the semiconductor device-socket of the present invention, as clarified from the aforementioned description, there is provided the accommodation portion in which the first positioning member is supported on the supporting member with the movement in the direction of the movement of the contact terminal deviation member restricted for positioning the terminal of the mounted semiconductor device relatively with respect to the movable contact of the contact terminal, so that when the semiconductor device is positioned in the accommodation portion, the semiconductor device is positioned without fail in the accommodation portion even during the movement of the contact terminal deviation member. Accordingly, in the course of a series of the mounting operations for the semiconductor device there is eliminated the possibility of undesirable interference of the positioning member and the semiconductor device and is eliminated the possibility of reducing of inspection efficiency.
The above and other objects, effects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.